When she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. And his sister stood afar off, to wit (know) what would be done to him.

Jochebed Hides Moses

Jochebed in her resourceful, fierce, protective, maternal mode defies the law of Pharoah, the law of the land and she refuses to turn over her own son that the Egyptians can kill him.

Instead of surrendering her little boy, her bright blessing from God, she hides him in their home for a long as she can. And when she can no longer hide him, she protects him by placing him in a protective ark, a small, infant sized boat and places him where he can be safe and watched. Miriam, like so many other big sisters is appointed babysitter to her little brother as he floats there in the reeds along the river bank.

Nor do I think this was a random place somewhere along the Nile. Here we see the hope and the plan of Jochebed, she put the little ark, in a place along the Nile where the royal princess of Egypt would go to bath. This may have been a ritual bathing place, or just a place of recreation but it would not have been unknown to the Hebrews for they would not be allowed to be there at the same time as royal household. Jochebed had to know this and for that reason placed her baby there. It was not an act of desperation, certainly not of abandonment. No, it was an act of hope and faith. It was something that a woman named “the Lord is Glory” would do.
Jochebed protected her child from the dangers of a world that wanted to destroy him.

The Maternal Duty

One of the most important and difficult duties of being a mother is protecting and guard your children. I’m not just talking about watching them so they don’t wander into the street or pick up a fork and insert it into an electrical outlet. Certainly, she must do that and a hundred other physical protections, but more importantly she must hide her children from the influence and danger of a world that wants to pollute them and then destroy them.

Make no mistake, the dangers of this world to a young child today is just as deadly as the Nile River was to the Hebrew children then. It may not be as quick, but the end result is the same, a child is lost, taken from their parents and destroyed by this sinful world and Satan, the god then of Egypt and still the god of this world.

That kind of protection, that kind of hiding a child can only be accomplished by a mother protecting and hiding their child in the love of Jesus Christ.

Can I give you an illustration of another mother seeking to protect her child? Its found in Mark 7:24-30
24 And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. 25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: 26 -- The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. 28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. 29 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. 30 And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.

Isn’t that a great example. It’s an illustration of a mother driven by the love of her child, refusing to walk away from the only hope her child had. She knew all her hope was in Jesus or her daughter was lost.

Mothers, keep your children under your watchful care and but even more keep them under the protection of Jesus Christ. For this world is still filled with demons that would destroy them. Yes, there are demons in this world, demons of perversion, demons of addiction, demons of cults and demons that are literal demons. Your love and guidance coupled with the Word of God and the love of Jesus is how you hide your child when they are young and protects them when they are grown and you can no longer keep them from putting forks in electrical outlets.